USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun County, Michigan, a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 99
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Mr. Cooper has two brothers living,-W. A. Cooper, a farmer of Jackson county, Michigan, and Oscar H. Cooper, who is engaged in the transfer business in Albion.
LEWIS S. HODGES, M. D., has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Tekonsha, Michigan, the past eight years and is ranked with the leading citizens of this community. Some personal mention of him is therefor of interest in this connection, and a resume of his life and parentage is as follows :
Lewis S. Hodges was born in Cayuga county, Ohio, November 20, 1874, son of Henry L. and Lucy (Campbell) Hodges, natives of Jeffer- son county, New York. Henry L. Hodges was born in June, 1848, and died in 1905; his wife, born in 1848, died in 1882. In 1865 he moved to Ohio, where he lived until he came to Michigan and settled in Oceana county. He was a farmer all his life. In Ohio he cultivated rented land, and after coming to Michigan he bought one hundred twenty acres, a hundred acres of which he cleared. He was in the Union Army during the Civil war, and as a member of Company C, Thirteenth Light Artillery, was a participant in the seven-days fight at Antietam and the engagements at Cold Harbor, and Gettysburg. On one occasion he was wounded, receiving a ball that he carried through life. Politically, he was a Republican ; religiously, a Methodist.
Dr. Hodges' grandparents, Stephen and Mary (Dodge) Hodges, were born and spent the greater part of their lives in New York State. About 1885 they came to Michigan, but subsequently went back to New York and there died. Grandfather Campbell, the father of Doctor Hodges' mother, was also a native of New York, and lived and died in the "Em- pire State." While a soldier in the War of 1812, he swam the St. Law- rence river to escape the British, and while he evaded the enemy he contracted a cold from the effects of which he died.
In the family of Henry L. and Lucy (Campbell) Hodges, were twelve children, of whom Lewis S. was the seventh son and ninth child.
Lewis S. Hodges was seven years old at the time his parents moved to Michigan, and here he was reared and educated. He worked his way through Ferris Institute, Big Rapids, and the State University. The latter institution he entered in 1900. Here he spent four years, pre- paring himself for his life work. Having graduated in 1904, and re- ceived his degree of M. D., he came that same year to Tekonsha, where he entered upon the practice of his profession. Success attended his ef-
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forts from the beginning, and he soon established himself in a growing practice.
In 1908 Doctor Hodges and Miss Clare E. Osborne were united in marriage, and they have two children : Richard C. and Harriet E. Mrs. Hodges is a daughter of Barton R. and Elizabeth (Barnes) Osborne, both natives of Michigan. Her parents now reside on a farm near Te- konsha. She was reared a Baptist, her father and mother both being identified with the church, and she also is a member.
Doctor Hodges maintains fraternal relation with the Modern Wood- men of America and the A. F. & A. M., and he has membership in both the County and the American Medical Associations. Politically, he harmonizes with the Republican party.
JOHN F. BYRNE. The career of John F. Byrne, vice-president of the Michigan Carton Company, of Battle Creek, illustrates most forcibly the possibilities that are open to the young men who possess sterling business qualifications. It proves that neither wealth nor social posi- tion, nor the assistance of influential friends at the outset of his career, are at all necessary to place a young man upon the road to success. It also proves that ambitious perseverance, steadfastness of purpose and indefatigable industry, combined with sound business principles, will be rewarded, and that true success follows individual efforts only. John F. Byrne was born September 30, 1871, in New Haven, Connecticut, and is a son of Henry and Joanna (Halpin) Byrne, natives of Ireland, both of whom came to the United States with relatives when young. They were married in New Haven, Connecticut, where the father fol- lowed the trade of silver plater during the days when that work was done by hand, but as he died when John F. Byrne was about four years of age, the latter does not remember much about him. There were two sons and a daughter in the family, all of whom are living: John F .; Mrs. J. G. Felsburg, of New Haven, Connecticut; and Harry E., a resi- dent of Memphis, Tennessee. Mrs. Byrne still survives her husband and makes her home in Battle Creek with her son.
The necessity for him to help in the support of the family precluded any possibility of Mr. Byrne's securing exceptional educational advan- tages in his youth, but by attending night school and doing much home study he became possessed of much general information. In 1888 he began his business career at New Haven as a press feeder for Munson & Company, proprietors of a folding paper box business, a concern with which he was connected three years, and then entered the employ of Cornell & Shelton Company, of Shelton, Connecticut, in the same busi- ness, as a department foreman. Three years later he went to Brooklyn, New York, and worked for one year for Robert Gair, after which he was for six years identified with the National Folding Paper Box Company, of New Haven, Connecticut. On May 20, 1900, Mr. Byrne came to Bat- tle Creek and started the manufacturing end of the Battle Creek Paper Box Company for C. W. Post, acting as superintendent of that plant, and continuing with Mr. Post until July 31, 1905, at which time he left his employ to take charge in the same capacity of the Record Publishing and Carton Company. In 1907, the Michigan Car- ton Company was formed and absorbed the Record Publishing and Car- ton Company, and Mr. Byrne joined the new company with W. I. Fell to take charge of the manufacturing end of the institution. In 1908 he was elected a director and vice-president of the company, in which capacities he has since acted, and is also superintendent of the plant, which is now one of Battle Creek's largest manufacturing institutions, a large paper mill having been added to the plant's equipment recently.
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The other officers of the company are: William H. Mason, president, and W. I. Fell, secretary and treasurer. The company manufactures folding paper boxes for food products, proprietary medicines and other package goods, its products including paper shipping containers, grouped cartons for window displays and cardboard signs. Mr. Byrne is a hustling, progressive business man, and is a representative of a class to whom, more than any other, is due the continued growth and pros- perity of the thriving city of Battle Creek.
Mr. Byrne has interested himself in fraternal matters, being past eminent commander of Commandery No. 33, Battle Creek Knights Tem- plar, and belongs to Battle Creek Lodge No. 12, F. & A. M., and to the Shrine at Grand Rapids. He is also prominent in the B. P. O. E., be- longing to Battle Creek Lodge No. 131, and to the Athelstan Club. In political matters he is a Republican, but has found his business interests too engrossing to allow of activities in the public arena.
On April 10, 1896, Mr. Byrne was married at New Haven, Connec- ticut, to Miss Elizabeth Heeran, of New Haven, daughter of Patrick and Margaret Heeran. Two children have been born to this union: Helen M., who was born in New Haven, and is now attending the Battle Creek high school; and Harry J., also born in New Haven, and now attending the departmental grades. Mr. and Mrs. Byrne attend St. Thomas Epis- copal church, although they are not members thereof. The modern fam- ily home is situated at No. 138 Chestnut street.
LESLIE TALMAGE has gained distinctive success as a farmer and sheep- raiser on his fine estate of one hundred and one acres in Newton town- ship, Calhoun county, Michigan. He is a man of sterling integrity of character and by reason of his straightforward, honorable business meth- ods he has won the high regard of all with whom he has had dealings.
A native of Michigan, Leslie Talmage was born in Newton township, Calhoun county, December 1, 1849, and he is a son of Alva P. Talmage, whose birth occurred in the state of Massachusetts in 1821. In early life the father removed to New York state, where, as a boy, he was canal boat driver on the Erie canal. He married, at the age of twenty-one years, Caroline Knight, a native of Connecticut, whence she had accom- panied her parents to Michigan at the age of thirteen years. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Sarah C. (Osborne) Knight and was a cousin of her husband. Alva P. Talmage was a son of Harvey and Ruth (Knight) Talmage. He came to Michigan at the age of nineteen years and was married, two years later, in Newton township, where he pur- chased a farm of eighty acres, later purchasing another estate of one hundred and thirty acres. Mr. Talmage was summoned to the life eternal in 1897, at the age of seventy-five years, and his cherished and devoted wife, who still survives him, makes her home on the old farmstead. Mr. and Mrs. Talmage became the parents of twelve children-eight boys and four girls,-as follows: Harvey (deceased) ; Sarah, who became the wife of Edward Mack, is likewise deceased; Leslie is the immediate sub- ject of this review; Iola Ruth is the wife of Edward Bingham and resides in township Burlington; Albert Howard is deceased; Albert Thomas is engaged in the mason business at Battle Creek; Emeline died in in- fancy ; Eugene is a resident of Newton township; Osee resides at Bed- ford; Maria is Mrs. Henry Allwardt; Floyd lives at South Bend, In- diana ; Cyrenus, deceased. Alva P. Talmage was a Democrat in politics and he served as town clerk for several terms and also as township treas- urer. He was a member of Home Grange No. 129.
The early life of Leslie Talmage was spent at home on the farm in Newton township and his preliminary educational training consisted of
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such advantages as were afforded in the district schools. At the age of twenty-two years, in 1871, he purchased a farm of eighty acres, thus forming the nucleus of his present estate. He helped erect a log cabin on his farm and in the following year was married, 1873. With the passage of time he has improved his farm and it is now recognized as one of the most attractive rural estates in Calhoun county. In addition to diversified farming he is an extensive breeder of Black Top Delaney sheep, all of his flock being registered, and he likewise breeds Poland China hogs. Mr. Talmage takes special pride in his sheep and he has had wonderfully good luck with them.
In politics Mr. Talmage is a Democrat, and though not formally con- nected with any religious denomination he favors churches and is fully cognizant of the amount of good accomplished by them.
Mr. Talmage married Miss Catherine Elizabeth Ford, a native of Newton, Michigan, and a daughter of George and Martha (Smith) Ford, the former of whom was born in Ireland, and the latter in Erie county, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Talmage have two sons,-Obi Harvey, whose birth occurred in 1875, is living in LeRoy township, Calhoun county ; O. C., whose birth occurred in 1880, is engaged in farming operations on an estate which lies in Newton and LeRoy townships.
RICHARD J. MILLER. About forty-five years of a long and active career has been spent by Mr. Miller in Battle Creek. During his early life he vigorously followed his trade of painter, and still does a large amount of contract work in that line, but he is now best known through his establishment at 32 South Jefferson avenue as dealer in wall paper, window shades, paints, oils and glass. He has a large business based upon his proved reliability to two generations of Battle Creek citi- zens.
Richard J. Miller, who represents one of the New England families, was born in Ferrisburg, Vermont, on Monday January 21, 1839. His birthplace was on the shores of Lake Champlain, opposite Essex light- house and the famous old Split Rock. His parents were Jeremiah and Catherine (Teal) Miller, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Whitehall, New York, and both of them died at the old homestead at Ferrisburg. The father was a carpenter and followed that vocation all his life. As a ship carpenter he built many canal and steam boats, but was also a builder of houses and barns. He and his brother had a con- tract for removing the cedar-post fence about the old arsenal grounds in Vergennes, Vermont. The old posts had been in the ground forty years, and were still sound. There were two sons and two daughters in the family, Richard J., being the youngest and the only survivor, and he is likewise the only representative of the family to come to Michigan.
During the early years spent in the old Green Mountain state he at- tended district school and completed his education in the academy at Vergennes. From an early age he began his practical career, and has always been noted for his enterprise and bustling activity. At the age of fifteen he secured a school to teach, and spent three winters as the master of a district school in Vermont. During the summer intervals he was engaged in learning and working at the painter's trade, and in this way he was a self-supporting man by the time he had attained his eighteenth year.
Mr. Miller lived in the east until he was twenty-nine, and in 1868 came west and made his permanent home in Battle Creek. At the time of his removal the price of white lead, which is such an important ele- ment in his working materials, was sixteen dollars a hundred pounds. Nearly for a century Mr. Miller has been known in Battle Creek as the
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proprietor of a reliable painting business, and with a number of men in his employ he has performed hundreds of contracts during this period. He has also for many years kept a paint store, his first location being on Jackson street, but he has been in his present quarters since Philander Barnes erected the building. Since 1897 he has included wall paper and other similar commodities in his stock.
Mr. Miller's home is outside the city limits in Battle Creek township on an attractive little fruit farm of seventeen acres, the management of this estate having been a great delight to his later years. In politics he is not a formal party man, but gives his support to the candidate he considers best fitted for office. At the present time his religious affilia- tion is with the World's Hope Institution, a body among whose cardinal principle is an affirmation that there is no eternal hell. For many years he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, later of the Free Methodist, but has ceased his connection with either, though he is an attendant at the Free Methodist church. Morally Mr. Miller has kept his mind and body free from attractive influences that weaken so many men, and he is a splendid specimen of a vigorous young age. He has never used tobacco in any form, nor any of the narcotic liquors. Deep breathing and outdoor exercise have been his stimulants, and through all his years he has never failed in eating three good meals a day and in sleeping to refreshment every night. He has made a wise choice of the good things in life, and his example is a worthy one to be followed.
Mr. Miller was married in Westport, New York, before the war to Miss Sarah Ellen Allen, a daughter of Joseph Allen and a direct de- scendant of Ethan Allan, the Revolutionary hero. Mrs. Miller was also born at Ferrisburg, the Allen and Miller families being neighbors and friends, and the children grew up together, and attended the same school. Their romance was so well known that the newspapers of the old home town had once or twice announced their marriage, and it was for this reason that the young couple, after finally settling the date, chose to be wedded in New York. Mrs. Miller's father was by profession a government surveyor. In this work he had come west and had sur- veyed in the vicinity of Battle Creek before the arrival of white men, when the Indian trails were the only path through the wilderness, and he slept every night on the ground. He was an early resident of Battle Creek, where he was engaged in blacksmithing for a time, and was also owner of considerable property in this vicinity.
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller, and two sons and two daughters are still living, namely: Jerry A. and Joseph R., both of Battle Creek; Katie was a graduate nurse in Grand Rapids and is now the wife of H. K. Knowlton, cashier of the Cadillac State Bank at Cadillac; Charlotte is the wife of S. B. Aiken, and they reside on a half-acre site given them from his farm by Mr. Miller.
MYRON J. BRYANT, who has for a lifetime resided on the soil which is his present farm, is not only an efficient and up-to-date farmer, but is the son of an able agriculturist and the grandson of a Michigan pioneer. His father, James Bryant, was but sixteen years of age when he came with his parents, in about the year 1836, to this state, where they located at Hickory Corner, Barry county, Michigan. He was then slight of build as well as young in years and before he was able to unyoke his own oxen was entrusted with the responsibility of three times driving an ox-team from Hickory Corners to Detroit for the purpose of buying flour. His hauling he was able to accomplish without difficulty and the kind hearts of the strangers he met made it easy for him to find assistance in the yoking and unyoking of his animals. In 1884 he began life for Vol. II-43
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himself, buying first an eighty-acre farm in Convis township. This he cleared and plowed, after which he erected the needed buildings. The beautiful farm which he constructed and the accessory buildings erected with such thoughtful care still stand and are counted among the best in that locality. He later doubled his property and lived on his well-im- proved farm of one hundred and sixty acres until his death in 1893. James Bryant had married Miss Anne Atmore a native of Norfolk, Eng- land and a woman of unusual intelligence. Her son, who remembers his father's interesting stories of having helped George Rogers and George Angell to chop and haul timber from what is now Main street of Battle Creek, also recalls his mother's accounts of the primitive conditions dur- ing her teaching experience in Penfield township when she was a young lady. Before her marriage she was accustomed to making twice at each weekend a trip on foot between her home and the location of her school. Her ability in the pedagogical line was also called in requisition after her marriage. She was married in 1844, at the age of twenty-three, to James Bryant, who was then twenty-six. Of their nine children Myron Bryant, the special subject of this brief biography, was the fifth.
His birth occurred in 1858, on the farm which he now owns. His home has always been the center of his life interests. Here he grew up and here he lived while securing his education, which was that of the rural schools. As his fater's close companion, he early received the training necessary to make his chosen vocation a successful one. After the death of his father, Myron Bryant bought out the other heirs in order that he might permanently occupy the family homestead, to the development of which he has given so much attention.
Mrs. Myron Bryant was formerly Miss Jean Chisholm, a daughter of Samuel Chisholm, a fine old Scotchman who came to Calhoun county during the later years of his life and who died in 1900. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bryant took place March 15, 1877. They are the par- ents of four sons, who are named and located as follows: Harry, who lives at Battle Creek, is a fireman at Station No. 3 of that city's system ; James, who is a successful farmer and who is a resident of Marshall township. Joseph, who is still at the home of his parents; and John, who also lives at the old homestead.
Myron Bryant is a leader among his friends and associates in mat- ters of political import. He is a Republican of logical views with a good deal of enthusiasm in expressing them. He is, however, no aspirant for office, and accepts such offices as his acquaintances force upon him as serious responsibilities rather than as empty honors. His church in- terests are those of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the local con- gregation of which he is capably active as a trustee. Otherwise his chief activities are those of his farm, which comprises in its general farming and dairy specialties an extensive field for the energies of a progressive farmer such as Mr. Bryant is acknowledged to be.
MAURICE SNOW GIBBS, M. D. It is a very rare occurence for a young medical practitioner to meet with immediate success in his chosen profes- sion, and within the short space of something over one year's time to build up a large and lucrative practice, but such has been the experience of Dr. Maurice Snow Gibbs, of Eckford, whose training, ability and natural inclination so fitted him for his vocation that he immediately won the confidence and patronage of the people of his selected field of endeavor and as a consequence made a place for himself among the rising young physicians and surgeons of his community. Dr. Gibbs was born in the town of Concord, Jackson county, Michigan, January 16, 1888, and is a son of Rev. William L. and Phoebe (Snow) Gibbs, natives of Hamilton
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county, Ohio, where the former was born March 6, 1839, and the latter ten years later. Dr. Gibbs was the only child of his parents, but they had two adopted children, William Cowden and Helen, the latter the wife of Floyd Butler. Rev. William L. Gibbs was educated in the Ohio public schools, and Lombard (Illinois) College, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, subsequently taking his theological course in Lawrence University, Canton, New York. During the same year he was ordained and entered the Universalist ministry. He has had various charges throughout Michigan, having been pastor of the churches at Manchester, Marshall, Liberty, Horton and Concord, and still resides at the last-named place, In addition to his clerical work, he has won a wide reputation as a temperance worker. In his political views he is independent, depending on his own judgment to advise him who is the best man for the office at stake, and fraternally he is connected with the Masons, in which he has attained the Knights Templar degree, the Maccabees and the Odd Fellows.
Dr. Maurice S. Gibbs received his primary education in the public and high schools of Concord, following which he attended Dean Acad- emy, at Franklin, Massachusetts, and the medical department of Bos- ton University. He then spent three years at the Detroit Homeopathic College, from which he was graduated in 1911 with the degree of Doc- tor of Medicine, and at once settled in practice at Eckford. From the very first he has enjoyed a practice, which has shown a steady and rapid in- crease, and at the present time is building a large office for the care of patients wishing for minor operations. He is a close and careful student, a steady-handed surgeon, and keeps himself posted on the latest discoveries in his profession by subscription to the leading med- ical journals. He takes special interest in the work of the various or- ganizations, belonging to the Calhoun County Medical Society and the State Homeopathic Medical Society, and belongs also to the Maccabees, the Gleaners and the Alpha Sigma medical fraternity. At the present time he is acting in the capacity of health officer of Eckford township. He and Mrs. Gibbs are faithful members of the Universalist church, and in his political belief he is a Republican.
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Dr. Gibbs was married in 1909 to Miss Harriet Jones, daughter of Clifton Jones, a prominent farmer of Concord, and one daughter, Helen has been born to this union.
JAMES W. LANGRELL. Among the prosperous farmers of Calhoun county, Michigan, is James W. Langrell, who has lived on his present farm of one hundred sixty acres near Tekonsha, since 1890. He started out a poor young man, and has worked his way up to a position in life where he enjoys the fruits of his early years of toil. His farm is well cultivated, and well stocked with Durham cattle, Poland China hogs and Shropshire sheep; and the constant and careful attention here given to the various details of the farming operations at once indicate the character of the owner.
Mr. Langrell is a native of the State of Delaware, and was born July 1, 1855, son of James and Anna (Kinnaman) Langrell, both na- tives of that state, as also were his grandparents-William and Sarah (Scott) Langrell and Samuel and Hannah (Burbank) Kinnaman. Both paternal and maternal grandparents lived and died in Delaware, Grand- father William Langrell being ninety-seven years of age at the time of his death. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits as have been many of his descendants. James Langrell was born in 1827 and died Jan- uary 4, 1883, and his wife, born in 1829, died in 1891. They were mar- ried in 1846. In 1856 they moved to Maryland, where he was engaged
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